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Henry's Once Upon a Time Book
The Once Upon a Time Book, commonly referred to as Henry's Book or simply The Book, is an item featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the first episode of the first season. History }} From reading the storybook, Henry begins believing the entire town is under a curse cast by none other by the Evil Queen, who is also apparently his mother, Regina. He becomes convinced the townspeople have forgotten their true selves while trapped in a time freeze. Alarmed by her son's "wild" imagination, Regina sends him to therapy sessions with Dr. Hopper. Despite this, Henry never gives up on his ideas. One day, he skips therapy and steals Mary Margaret's credit card to look up his birth mother's information. Certain that his birth mother, Emma, is the savior who will break the curse, Henry shows up on her doorstep in Boston. During the drive back to Storybrooke, he animatedly talks to Emma about the curse. Once she drops Henry off at his house, he purposely leaves his storybook in her car. Meeting Regina for the first time, Emma casually mentions the book, but the latter has never heard of it. On the drive out of town, Emma finally notices the storybook is still in her car. Distracted, she crashes the vehicle into the town sign. The next day, Emma meets Henry's teacher, Ms. Blanchard, who admits giving him the book because he's a lonely child, and she had hopes it'd help foster hope in his heart. After Emma brings Henry home again, Regina coldly urges her to stay out of Henry's life. Inside the house, she takes away the book from Henry. From flipping through the pages, Regina sees pictures of her former self, the Evil Queen. Continuing to read through the book, Regina notices the last few pages are torn out. When she questions Henry, he flippantly states it's just an old book. Regina, hurt by Henry thinking she's some "evil queen", asserts that she is his mother. In turn, he callously remarks that she is not his mother. Later on, Henry secretly gives Emma the torn out pages to prove she is the child of Prince Charming and Snow White. He warns against ever letting Regina, or the Evil Queen, see them or else she will know they are trying to break the curse. Meanwhile, Regina schemes to make Emma look bad in Henry's eyes. She manipulates a conversation so Emma says, on cue, that Henry is crazy, which he walks in and overhears. During Henry's therapy session with Dr. Hopper, Emma comes to apologize to the boy. In an effort to understand his insistent imagination, she agrees that the curse is crazy and burns the missing pages of the book so Regina doesn't find them. Emma reasons that she only said what was necessary to throw Regina off their trail, which Henry thinks is brilliant. After seeing John Doe in the hospital, Henry Mills shows Emma a picture of Prince Charming in his book and notes that they both have the same scar under their chins. He asks Mary Margaret to read to him and she agrees. While reading him the Snow White fairytale, John Doe suddenly grabs her hand. In shock, Mary Margaret calls Dr. Whale to take a look. He tells her that it's not possible and she was just imagining it. The next day, they discover John Doe awoke from his coma and wandered out of the hospital. Graham has been having dreams of what he believes to be his past life so he visits Henry and asks him if he is in his book. Henry tells him the story of the Huntsman, who spared Snow White's life and as a result the Evil Queen ripped his heart. He also shows Graham a picture of the vault where the hearts are kept. Emma discovers two orphans, Ava and Nicholas Zimmer, whose mother passed away recently. Henry shows Emma his book once again to point out that the children are Hansel and Gretel. Emma does not believe this, but Henry insists that their father abandoned them, but he must still be in Storybrooke because of the curse. After hiding his book at the castle playground, Henry rushes back to look for it when the entire area is bulldozed on Regina's orders. However, he is unable to find the book and believes it is destroyed. Later, to make up for his lost book, Regina gifts him a hand-held game console. A town outsider, August, takes Emma to the wishing well for a drink. When they get to this well, they read a plaque that states that this water has magical properties with the ability to return what was once lost. Emma does not believe this, but drinks the water anyway. Later, she is surprised to find Henry's book floating in a puddle underneath her car, which was left there by none other than August, who has been secretly adding new story pages to the book. Unknown to her, this is a ploy enacted by him to convince her to believe in magic and, most importantly, the curse. Ruby, after quitting her job at the diner, is hired by Emma to handle incoming phone calls at the sheriff station. Henry tells Emma about the entry in the book about her Enchanted Forest identity, Red Riding Hood, and because of this, Ruby is good at finding things. While researching the disappearance of missing resident Kathryn Nolan, Ruby searches the Toll Bridge for clues on Emma's orders and finds a jewelry box with a human heart inside. Whilst combing the border of Storybrooke in her car for a missing Mary Margaret, she accidentally hits a man on the road, Jefferson, and apologizes by driving him home. Little does she know, Jefferson has his own hidden intentions for Emma, who he drugs with sedatives. Under his coercion, she is forced to follow him to another room, where he strangely asks her to make a hat "work" with magic. Believing she possesses magic due to her status as the curse's savior, Jefferson only wishes to go home to his daughter, Grace, who he believes is now the next door neighbors' daughter, Paige. Realizing this man thinks himself to be the Mad Hatter, Emma plays along with his ideas in order to escape. After this ordeal, in which she also helps Mary Margaret escape from him, Emma joins Henry at his school, where she sees Paige. Going by a hunch, she asks to see the storybook. Within it, Emma finds drawing depictions of the Mad Hatter and his daughter that closely resemble Jefferson and Paige. Soon after Mary Margaret charged as a suspect in the murder of Kathryn, Emma reads through the storybook when August tries to inspire her efforts in exonerating her friend. He asks about the extent of her lie-detecting abilities, and how it relates to his writing. Going by his suggestion to look at the case from the beginning, she brings him to the crime scene at the Toll Bridge, where Kathryn's heart was found in a hole. As Emma digs near this area, she discovers a shovel piece, which leads her and August, with Henry's help, to investigate Regina's garage. They find a shovel matching the piece they found, however, when Emma returns the next day with a search warrant, a different shovel is in place. Believing August is helping Regina, Emma accuses him of conspiring against her until finding out the true backstabber is Sidney, who is spying on her for the mayor. Soon after, Kathryn is discovered alive behind the alley and Mary Margaret is cleared of the murder charges. While at the diner with Emma, Henry informs her the story of Pinocchio has recently been added to the storybook. August, the alias of Pinocchio, takes Emma out of Storybrooke on his motorcycle to the spot where she was found her as a baby. He admits being the boy who found her, which she is skeptical of. To prove magic is real, August shows her his wooden leg. However, her disbelief in magic prevents her from seeing what is actually there. To her surprise, August believes in the curse and also thinks she is the savior who will save everyone. She, with intentions of getting Henry away from Regina, rejects his claims and flees. Following a failed attempt to leave Storybrooke with Henry, in which the boy stops her by insisting she needs to break the curse, Emma realizes taking him away is not in his best interests. Fearing her presence is also not beneficial to him, she tells Regina of her plans to leave town permanently. Regina, who made a poisoned apple turnover, gives it to Emma as a parting gift, although she has hopes the savior will eat it and fall into an eternal sleep so Henry will be hers. Things do not go accordingly, with Henry discovering the apple turnover, and in desperation to make Emma believe the curse is real, he bites into it. When he falls unconscious, a worried Emma rushes him to the hospital. Though she shows the apple turnover to Dr. Whale, he does not believe it could possibly be the cause of Henry's current state. Searching for answers, Emma empties Henry's backpack and discovers the book, which allows her to remember her parents putting her in the wardrobe before the curse overtook them. }} After undergoing the sleeping curse to relay a message to Mary Margaret in the Netherworld, David remains in a deep sleep as Henry begins reading him the Snow White fairytale from his storybook. During a hectic day, a stranger is admitted to the hospital, where Dr. Whale reconciles himself with demons of his past life. The next morning, Emma and her parents return to the loft since alleviating the stranger crisis. Henry learns Dr. Whale's true identity is Dr. Frankenstein, which is a story that doesn't exist in the book. From this, he suspects because Dr. Frankenstein isn't from the Enchanted Forest, there may be people from other worlds who were also taken by the curse. After August is given a second chance at life by reverting to Pinocchio, Marco keeps his old belongings, including a door illustration from the storybook, in his woodshop. }} When Regina prods Henry about the storybook Author's identity, he learns why she wants to find the writer. Coining the mission Operation Mongoose, Henry decides to join her in this quest. Later, he suspects Mr. Gold possibly knows something about the Author. Going undercover, Henry gains an Apprenticeship at the pawnshop in the hopes of gathering information. In her vault, Regina sadly studies all the storybook pages illustrating happy endings to stories. Despite knowing he must focus on saving Marian, Robin Hood rushes in and proclaims he cannot erase Regina from his heart. Dismayed with his confession, Regina steels herself by asserting they absolutely cannot be in each other's lives. She then leaves for home, where Henry sees her angrily flipping through the storybook. He inquiries about her relationship with Robin Hood, which she confirms is over. Choosing his heart's desire over honor, Robin Hood later seeks out Regina as they spend the night together. The day after, Regina is remorseful about her actions and tries to prove to Robin Hood that they are not meant to be by showing him the storybook. This leads him to researching the book at the library, and to a mysterious discovery of a new storybook page featuring himself and Regina. He believes it's a sign they have a future together, which gives Regina a glimmer of hope. With Ingrid's defeat, the freezing spell she cast on Marian thaws out. Regina, having previously taken out Marian's heart to keep the spell from killing her, returns it to her. Despite that Regina believes Robin Hood should stay with his wife for Roland's sake, Marian openly declares to her that she doesn't want to be with him if he doesn't truly love her. Later in the day, as Marian and Roland play by a lake, Robin Hood confesses to Regina that he is still choosing to be with her over his wife. Regina is concerned how this will reflect in his son's eyes, but he believes it's better to live honestly and set an example for him. He then shows her the storybook image of them as Regina smiles hopefully. However, their possible future with each other comes to an end when Marian is re-affected by remnants of Ingrid's spell, causing Regina to persuade Robin Hood into leaving town with his wife, as she can only survive if there is no magic. At the town border, Robin Hood shares a final kiss with Regina before he steps over the line. Once he is gone, a saddened Regina rips up the storybook illustration of them and then tosses the pieces onto the ground. Sleuthing around the Sorcerer's mansion, Henry discovers a hidden library with numerous blank storybooks. Astonished by the find, he leads both Emma and Regina to the site. Learning of Operation Mongoose, Emma decides to join Henry and Regina in their search for the Author. Resuming her role as mayor of Storybrooke, Regina moves all her belongings back into the office. At some point during or after this, she retrieves all the torn pieces of the storybook image, tapes everything together and stores the reassembled photo in a drawer. As Regina is looking through the storybook for clues on the Author, Emma stops by with a root beer for her. Searching for a beer opener, Emma accidentally opens a drawer and sees the photo of Regina and Robin Hood. Regina hesitantly explains how Robin Hood mysteriously found the image and his belief it was hope for their future together. From consulting with an "Oxford professor", Belle provides a ritual that Regina must enact to free the nuns from the hat. After Mother Superior is freed, Regina approaches her to show her one of the blank storybooks from the mansion. As Regina discloses her reason for needing the Author, who she believes is also the Sorcerer. However, Mother Superior clarifies they are not the same person, and only the Author can help her, although he has not been seen for a long time. When asked by Emma why the Author disappeared, Mother Superior has no answers, but she believes there are clues in his works to explain it. Emma then inquiries if Henry's book is considered one of the Author's works, but before the head nun can reply, the roar of a Chernabog interrupts them. That evening, Henry sits at the diner counter while scouring the storybook with a magnifying glass. When Henry gets donut crumbs on the storybook, Regina begins cleaning them off until she notices the page looks different from the others. Incidentally, it is a page from the Pinocchio fairytale, which August put into the book. Even though August has since been reverted to Pinocchio some time ago, Regina suspects he may have knowledge about the Author. Pinocchio proves to remember nothing from his time as August, even with Emma's attempts to trigger his memories, to which Regina vents her frustration on the boy. To cool things down, Emma and Henry take Pinocchio out of the room, and while they are gone, Marco gets into a heated argument with Regina. Regretful of her actions, she later apologizes to Geppetto for insulting his son. Moved by her sincerity, he gives her August's old bag, which might have something on the Author. Leaving the bag in Henry's hands, he dumps out its contents and finds the door illustration with a sticky note referencing the Author. After Henry's family rescue August, who has since been restored to his former self, from the villains, they bring him to recuperate at the apartment. Henry, while looking over the storybook, keeps watch over him and calls over Emma and Regina when he wakes up. Regina, spying on the villains undercover, asks August about the door illustration and where it could be. While Mr. Gold and his allies believe the door is in another physical location, August reveals the door in the illustration itself is the actual entrance to where the Author is trapped. At the apartment, while Emma and Regina are debating how they should proceed since finding out about the door illustration, Henry alerts them to August's depleting condition. They take him to the nunnery, where Mother Superior oversees his well-being. Afterwards, Henry and his two mothers discuss how to continue deceiving the villains. Emma conjures a forgery of the door page, but Regina settles for taking a photo of the real one while both pages are placed for safekeeping in the storybook. Later in the day, Henry becomes alarmed after Emma and Hook fall asleep due to Maleficent's sleeping spell. Immune since being under a sleeping curse, he remains unaffected and flees to the mansion with the storybook. As he waits for David and Mary Margaret to meet up with him, Henry sees a light coming out of the keyhole of the door illustration, which shines onto a table drawer, where he finds a key. Suddenly, Regina shows up with Cruella and Maleficent to retrieve the illustration. With a knowing, silent look from his mother, Henry realizes she wants him to give her the fake rather than the real one, which he does. After they leave, his grandparents arrive, and as he tells them about the key, they insistently ask him to hand it as well as the door image to them. Puzzled, he complies and then leaves, carrying the storybook. }} Trivia |-|On-screen Notes= On-screen Notes *Throughout the series, excerpts from several fairytales and stories are in the book, including The Golden Bird;File:107TheGoldenBirdStorybook.pngFile:321TheGnome.png The Wonderful Wizard of Oz;File:101FlyingMonkeys.png Alice's Adventures in Wonderland;File:101Caterpillar.jpg and Snow-White and Rose-Red.File:102TornOutPages.jpg **The picture of Dorothy and the Flying Monkeys is "The Monkeys Caught Dorothy in Their Arms and Flew Away With Her", one of W. W. Denslow's illustrations from the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43936/43936-h/43936-h.htm#Chapter_XIV **The illustration of Alice and the Caterpillar is a colorized version of one of John Tenniel's illustrations from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. *There are other stories that do not exist in the book such as Frankenstein due to unknown reasons. Henry theorized that Dr. Frankenstein's story is not in the book since he does not originate from the Enchanted Forest as the other people in the book do. However, on numerous occasions, images in other realms have been featured such as the Caterpillar as well as JeffersonFile:202HatterDrawing.PNG in Wonderland. *Some of the images are illustrations by the famous English book illustrator Arthur Rackham: **An illustrationFile:101Wardrobe.jpg from Little Brother & Little Sister and Other Tales By The Brothers Grimm''http://poulwebb.blogspot.be/2013/07/arthur-rackham-part-5.html (1917), which depicts a scene from the Grimm fairy tale "Maid Maleen". **"He Played Until The Room Was Entirely Filled With Gnomes", published during the late nineteenth century. This image depicts a scene from the Grimm fairy tale "The Gnome". **"The Meeting of Oberon and Titania" (1905), from William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream. **A 1909 illustrationFile:310TheGoldenBird2.png from the fairy tale of "Little Red Riding Hood". **"What Did She Find There But Real Ripe Strawberries",File:321Page2.png also from Little Brother & Little Sister and Other Tales By The Brothers Grimm. This image depicts a scene from the fairy tale of "The Three Little Men in the Wood".http://gallimaufry.typepad.com/blog/2013/12/the-three-little-men-in-the-forest.html **"When He Heard Peter's Voice He Popped in Alarm Behind a Tulip,File:218TheGoldenBird.png from J.M. Barrie's book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906). **An illustrationFile:310TheGoldenBird.png from Nathaniel Hawthorne's children's book A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1851). It depicts a scene from the story "The Paradise of Children". **"Fairies Away! We Shall Chide Downright, If I Longer Stay"File:413GoldenBird.png (1908). It depicts Titaniahttp://www.artsycraftsy.com/rackham/msd_titania.html in a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. **"Preposterous Cried Solomon in a Rage", also from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. |-|Production Notes= Production Notes *When creating the book, the prop department brought in every style and type of book they could find, and picked out an antique accounting book. They aged it up a little, and the art department would press stamps into the cover of the book to change the cover. A book builder made replicas of the finished product. The prop department created many pages with text on them, and added several illustrations. **The show does several transitions from the book to live action. If they're lucky, the prop department creates an illustration out of a screen-grab and inserts it into the book. If the prop department's schedule takes before the filming of the main action of the story line, they put a green page in the book, and the visual effects department will make their own illustration.Once Upon a Time - Behind the Magic - Page 43. London: Titan Books, October 2013 |-|Props Notes= Props Notes *A blank prop replica of the bookhttps://twitter.com/OnceUponAFan/status/359420232592400384 was signed by Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parrilla, Josh Dallas, Emilie de Ravin, Robert Carlyle, Michael Raymond-James and Colin O'Donoghuehttps://twitter.com/OnceUponAFan/status/359422476893188096/photo/1/large for a September 2013 Stand Up 2 Cancer charity event.http://www.onceuponafans.com/ouaf-stand-up-2-cancer |-|Other Notes= Goofs *When Henry is given the storybook in October 2011, he sees a picture of the scene with Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio right before the Blue Fairy's arrival. However, the story of Pinocchio being sent to the Land Without Magic along with Emma was not in the book until August added it several months later. Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. References de:Henrys Märchenbuch fr:Livre de contes it:Libro "Once Upon A Time" pt:Era Uma Vez (livro) Category:Magic